Railways & Romans, Bivalves & Brachiopods Multi-cache
Railways & Romans, Bivalves & Brachiopods
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(regular)
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A 2-3 mile circular walk past a Roman Villa and a fossil-rich disused railway.
Suggested parking for this cache is at N51 49.128 W001 55.269, the walkers’ car park next to Chedworth Roman Villa.
From the car park walk past the Roman villa which belongs to the National Trust.It is usually open from Easter to October, and is worth a visit for its well preserved mosaic floors. Make your way to the above coordinates. You are now at the entrance to a mile-long nature reserve belonging to Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust. The reserve is on the site of a dismantled railway track and is a great place to find fossil marine life from the Jurassic period. You are allowed to search for fossils on the banks of the railway but not to chisel them out of the rocks. At the entrance to the reserve you will find a board with some information.
Upper Freestone is ABB million years old.
Lower Fullers Earth is ACD million years old.
The railway was built in ABEA, and closed in AEFA, after being in use for CG years.
You can find the cache at N51 (D+A)(E-A).(B-A)(D-A)(C-D) W001 (F-A)(C-D).DFG
Hint: you cannot reach the cache by walking along the railway track, as it is blocked off at either end, but do explore it if you have time. The cache is not in the nature reserve. There are a number of possible routes to the cache site, and you will find an ordnance survey map useful.
No more hints as we want this one to be a bit of a challenge. You may also find poor GPS coverage due to tree cover in places, but this shouldn’t be a problem at the cache site.
Look out for the extra large Roman edible snails which inhabit the woods around these parts, descendants of the ones the villa occupants used to eat! Depending on which route you choose there are ancient bluebell woods, fine views over Chedworth and beyond and a track along the bottom of a valley next to a stream. Please stick to the footpaths which are very well waymarked. Enjoy your journey back in time and spare a thought for the Victorian navvies who built the railway and the Roman slaves who built the villa. Its also quite a thought that what you are walking on was once the sea bed!
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Va gur erznvaf bs n gerr fghzc